Request: Please Help Me Make Sense of The Prospects

[sethmacbookuser]

I've been following the rumors about the MacBook Pro (which I use but I'm more of a non-technical guy who is interested in features, not specs, except inasmuch as they can be easily understood like increases in RAM and HD storage obviously).

There seem to have been all sorts of rumors related to features that are, from my perspective, desirable, but I can't tell if they're genuinely on the horizon or not.

So, I seem to recall that Apple was working on a keyboard that would adapt to the programs being used (like the Touch Bar) but would still have the standard "feel" of a keyboard.

I also seem to recall some discussion of different LED formats (OLED is the obvious one, and MiniLED, but I don't know if that's all).

Finally, wasn't there something about the screen-hinge-body archetype possibly going away? (This, I'm not so sure about.)

Apple has let me down a lot, especially, it seems, since Steve died. They no longer seem out for blood (which, in and of itself, doesn't particularly concern me) but that means they no longer seem concerned with the twin goals of perfection (which concerns me a lot) and staying unassailably ahead of the curve (which concerns me but not quite so much as the lack of concern with perfection). They also no longer seem so interested in Dieter Rams-like minimalism (which drives me crazy, but it may be necessary).

Just wondering. I'd hate to replace my 2016 MacBook Pro (which is still good, but is long in the tooth) only to discover that if I had waited six months, there would have been a major paradigm shift.

 

[TiggrToo]

I've been following the rumors about the MacBook Pro (which I use but I'm more of a non-technical guy who is interested in features, not specs, except inasmuch as they can be easily understood like increases in RAM and HD storage obviously).

There seem to have been all sorts of rumors related to features that are, from my perspective, desirable, but I can't tell if they're genuinely on the horizon or not.

So, I seem to recall that Apple was working on a keyboard that would adapt to the programs being used (like the Touch Bar) but would still have the standard "feel" of a keyboard.

I also seem to recall some discussion of different LED formats (OLED is the obvious one, and MiniLED, but I don't know if that's all).

Finally, wasn't there something about the screen-hinge-body archetype possibly going away? (This, I'm not so sure about.)

Apple has let me down a lot, especially, it seems, since Steve died. They no longer seem out for blood (which, in and of itself, doesn't particularly concern me) but that means they no longer seem concerned with the twin goals of perfection (which concerns me a lot) and staying unassailably ahead of the curve (which concerns me but not quite so much as the lack of concern with perfection). They also no longer seem so interested in Dieter Rams-like minimalism (which drives me crazy, but it may be necessary).

Just wondering. I'd hate to replace my 2016 MacBook Pro (which is still good, but is long in the tooth) only to discover that if I had waited six months, there would have been a major paradigm shift.

No-one but Apple knows the timetable.

You need to make your own mind up as to which way you want to proceed. If you play the waiting game you'll never be happy because you'll feel you missed the "next big thing".

My guess is that coming up next is potentially the first Arm powered MB or MBP.

If so do you then wait for a MiniLED display as well?

If you do wait for that do you then also wait for Apple have a 2nd Gen Arm chip coming up soon after & wait for that...?

You get the idea.

 

[sethmacbookuser]

Excellent point. And I have had those issues over the years. But I'm not so concerned with missing any single particular improvement. That's inevitable. I'm interesting in missing the big paradigm shift. I bought a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro before major changes came out and regretted the timing of the purchases. And I certainly regretted buying the first MacBook Pro with a butterfly keyboard.

 

[leman]

Excellent point. And I have had those issues over the years. But I'm not so concerned with missing any single particular improvement. That's inevitable. I'm interesting in missing the big paradigm shift. I bought a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro before major changes came out and regretted the timing of the purchases. And I certainly regretted buying the first MacBook Pro with a butterfly keyboard.

The paradigm shift is coming just now with the transition to new hardware architecture. It dies not mean that there will be a big change in the external features as well.

What we can expect realistically in that regard? Probably some sort of new display technology (if they have the miniLED ready, this would mean HDR support). I doubt it that the form factor or the way how you interact with the machine will change much.

I would wait for the September hardware release, it should make the things more clear. For some users, it might make sense to hold off the ARM Macs for some time until the software industry has caught up. But for office and home usage, ARM Macs most likely will be great from day one.